NCAA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : CS Long Beach Beats Washington, 104-78

Playing the Cal State Long Beach women’s basketball team anytime can be a heady task. Combine that with an opponent playing its worst game of the season, and the mix can be downright explosive.

Exhibit A was Thursday night. Long Beach, the Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. champion looking for its second straight trip to the Final Four, jumped to a big lead and blew out Washington, 104-78, in the semifinals of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. West Regional before a capacity crowd of 2,103 at the 49ers’ Campus Gym.

In its 19th consecutive win, Long Beach (27-5) got 29 points from Penny Toler, 20 from Shannon Smith, 14 from Traci Waites, 13 from Cheryl Dowell off the bench and 12 from Shameil Coleman, who had a game-high 10 rebounds. The 49ers, whose lead reached as many as 34 points, also outrebounded Washington, 52-33.

“I know the players were pleased afterward, but we weren’t real emotional,” Long Beach Coach Joan Bonvicini said. “We haven’t reached our goal yet. Our goal is the Final Four.”

With a 49ers’ win in the regional final Saturday night, a trip to Tacoma, Wash., and the national semifinals will be theirs.

Thursday night’s game, for the most part, was all theirs, too. The 49ers moved out to a 12-3 lead, built a double-figure cushion 6:48 into the game and still had it at halftime, by which time they were up, 50-36.

Washington, the Pacific 10 Conference champion, which finished with a 25-5 record, made a brief run to open the second half, cutting the deficit to 52-46. But Long Beach turned on the jets again and regained command, this time for good. With 11 minutes left, the 49ers were already in cruise control with a 67-52 edge.

Adding to the rout was the fact that Washington kept losing players. Four starters fouled out.

“We knew if we got in foul trouble, it would be a long night for us,” said Washington Coach Chris Gobrecht, whose Huskies shot 38.2%. “The thing that hurt the most was our total inability to rebound with them. There are no excuses for that.

“It’s really too bad our worst performance of the year came on a night when we were playing our biggest game of the year.”

It was also a big night for Toler, the irrepressible 49er guard, though she wanted no part of it. Turning 22 has hit her hard.

“She feels bad,” Bonvicini said. “She feels like she’s getting too old.”

Toler, who came in averaging 22.2 points a game, hit 11 of 18 shots.

Yvette Cole scored 19 points to lead Washington.